During the past few decades, vendors harnessed advances in technology and rushed to market with standalone point solutions designed to help real estate professionals compete. Boasting of time savings and improved operations, these tools were welcomed and adopted.
Unfortunately, independent solutions don't talk to each other. Rather, they create a disjointed environment that forces agents to rely on multiple, disconnected tools.
The result? Fragmented workflows which drain time, slow momentum and erode agents’ confidence in the data they rely on.
The current state of real estate technology platforms
To understand the scope of the problem, TransUnion commissioned Forrester Consulting to survey real estate agents with two or more sales in the past year — capturing insights into the state of their workflows. This uncovered the issue of real estate's fragmented tech and highlighted what a consolidated solution could mean for agent productivity, safety and success.
The resulting study — Empowering the Modern REALTOR: A Framework for Faster, Safer, High‑Confidence Workflows — found three trends defining the current tech workflow.
1. Juggling real estate tech slows agents down
While the real estate industry relies heavily on data, accessing it is inefficient. Forrester found 48% of agents rely on four or more separate tools to manage common responsibilities, such as assessing safety risks and confirming contact information for potential clients.
Switching between different devices and solutions (depending on the task) adds friction to agent workflows.
Logging in and out of multiple systems costs these real estate professionals valuable time and momentum, which is why agent workflow consolidation remains a critical need within the industry.
2. Ownership verification and prospecting capabilities are vital real estate tech
Every successful real estate transaction relies on information: verifying property owners, validating the identities of each party, confirming property details, etc. But while the vast majority (85%) of agents surveyed by Forrester said precise property ownership data and up-to-date contact information are vital to their professional success, significant barriers exist.
Nearly half (47%) of the agents said an ongoing prospecting gap persists — caused by compliance rules that prohibit them from obtaining contact information of individuals who haven’t reached out first. As a result, agents cannot proactively contact homeowners who may be ready to sell without risking non-compliance.
Manually piecing together information from multiple external platforms to identify new clients is ineffective and time-consuming. A consolidated environment would enable agents to move smoothly from ownership verification to contact discovery — all within a single interface.
3. Today's agents demand safety and identity checks
Given the prevalence of personal safety concerns and potential fraud, the ability to assess potential safety and identity risks associated with prospective clients is considered a non-negotiable component of an agent's toolset. These checks are particularly important when agents are meeting unknown individuals for the first time.
The agents surveyed expressed heightened concern regarding several specific background elements, including criminal offense histories (82%) and court record histories (80%), as well as potential identity anomalies or fraud indicators.
Rather than manually cross-referencing information across disconnected public records and search engines, agents benefit from permissible data access that mitigates these vulnerabilities.
The cost of fragmented real estate tech
Today's real estate professionals already recognize how a disjointed tech stack reduces productivity, makes converting leads more difficult and diminishes their personal safety. When asked about the potential impact of a hypothetical platform that unites their common tasks in one solution, the agents surveyed listed several expected benefits, including:
- Saving time (47%)
- Gaining a competitive advantage (40%)
- Feeling safer and more willing to take on new leads (40%)
- Becoming more organized (34%)
- Improving lead conversion rates (28%)
Addressing the fragmented tech stack can eliminate pain points, enabling the industry's workforce to be more productive and successful.
Unleashing the power of consolidation
"Imagine a consolidated platform that combines safety checks, property ownership verification tools, contact discovery and targeted prospecting list-building in a single environment."
When this concept was proposed to survey participants, it resonated — deeply. An impressive 82% of agents found the idea appealing and 91% stated they’d use such a tool at least occasionally in their daily work.
Respondents anticipated several key benefits from a unified system. These include reduced context switching, more efficient operations and greater confidence in the data they use.
Having mobile access to a consolidated solution was also reported as being critical. Forrester discovered mobile use frequently exceeds desktop use across key agent activities, which makes sense given how often these professionals are in the field. A unified real estate platform must meet agents where they work.
How organizations can help close the gap
Forrester emphasized real estate associations and multiple listing services (MLSs) are well-positioned to play a pivotal role in reducing technical fragmentation by facilitating access to integrated platforms that better support their members.
Reducing fragmentation delivers benefits far beyond the individual agent level. Brokerages and associations that invest in consolidated tools stand to see meaningful gains in productivity, retention and overall member satisfaction.
Looking for greater insight into the fragmentation challenges facing the real estate industry? Download the Forrester study commissioned by TransUnion to explore the findings in full.
TruLookup for Real Estate is provided by TRADS, a TransUnion company.
